By and large, he had found his peace. He had survived his vices, his politics, his rages and his therapies, avoided the junkie's death unlike so many, only to meet a cheap little handgun in the hands of a sad case like so many others he had met, kids who believed in some desperate part of them that this man could actually pull them out of the pit. And he couldn't. All he could do was write and sing, and in those songs tens of millions did in fact find a real solace, a pushing back of the fog and the dark.

I'm going to pick out a set of John Lennon songs to play it as I drive my car -- baby, you can drive my car -- in the next week. I'll reveal the song list later. If you care about John Lennon, tell me, what is your song list?

UPDATE: After collecting 35 songs from my various CDs, I selected these 17:

Happiness Is A Warm Gun Come Together Tomorrow Never Knows Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! Instant Karma! Strawberry Fields Forever Rain Across the Universe She Said She Said Don´t Let Me Down You've Got To Hide Your Love Away Girl Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds In My Life I'm So Tired Revolution A Day In The Life

I'm going to put the second group of 18 in my car too:

A Hard Day's Night Please Please Me Not A Second Time You Can't Do That All I've Got To Do I Call Your Name Sexy Sadie Julia If I Fell I'm A Loser Ticket to Ride I'm Only Sleeping I Feel Fine Help! Mind Games I Am The Walrus All You Need Is Love You Know My Name (Look up the Number)

Some things about the sequencing I did on purpose. Others I find amusing now that I notice, like that I put the two songs with exclamation points together. These are all songs that appeal to me for one reason or another, and I didn't put them in the order that I favor them, though I did put my favorite one first.

36 comments:

I just read an Mark David Chapman interview, and it was incredibly pathetic. Like Oswald, Chapman was saved from a suicide attempt, and then later compelled to kill Lennon.

I doubt the Beatles would have played again, nor did they need to. However, Lennon was at an amazing point in his life, having regained his creative juices. He wrote Double Fantasy in a very short period of time, and there were signs that he would have kept writing.

I have about four degrees of separation from Chapman. My brother dated a woman from NYC whose sister worked at the Information Booth at Central Park. Chapman literally asked her where the Dakota was. A few days later he came back to the booth, and asked her out for a date. She went (though she was 17), and he took her to the top of the Empire State Building. She said he was an ok guy, and probably would have gone out again.

A day or two later he killed Lennon.

My favorite Lennon tune is "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite." "Run For Life" is very unusual, as it one of the only pop songs that advocates killing one's significant other in the event of unfaithfulness. And people complain about rap :)

I've got a list of about 35 songs that I'm considering for the final compilation. Only two post-Beatles songs are on the list. I think it's very unlikely that you can guess which two -- though saying that should help.

In my opinion, John Lennon was never better than when he covered the greats (Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Little Richard...) on his 1975 album, "Rock 'n' Roll." The remastered original is even better, with four bonus tracks including Phil Spector's 'To Know Is to Love Her.' He makes it his own as he does with 'Since My Baby Left Me' and 'Stand By Me.'

Here's a public domain recording of the lads doing 'To Know Her..." from a live BBC radio show in (I think) 1965.

Dave: I agree. I am marking the quarter century since we lost Lennon. His murderer does not deserve to have his name linked to Lennon forever. He's a meaningless nothing who happened to cross the path of greatness.

Although the Beatles are my fav`s I`ve always leaned to the later stuff. George and Paul really surprised me as musicians early on but Lennon seemed to be the voice,"We`re more popular than Jesus Christ."...Sgt.Pepper..Let it Be..Dr Robert..Instant KarmaImagine..Come Together..Strawberry Fields..The Dream is Over..Love Me Do..

Twist and shoutHard Days NightHelpGoodmorning (from Sgt. Peppers)Happy X-masYou've got to hide your love awayIn my LifeNorwegian WoodA Day in the Lifeall you need is loveStrwberryfields ForeverDear PrudenceGlass OnionYer BluesEverybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My MonkeyRevolution (slow vewrsion from the White Album)Cry Baby CryCome TogetherThe medley side of Abbey Road (so what if it's not all John)Across The UniverseI Call Your Name (cover of a Mama & Papas song)RainInstant KarmaLove#9 DreamWorking Class HeroWatching The WheelsI Found Out(Hell, the entire Plastic Ono Band Album with Working Class Hero, it's still a classic)

Though its not my favorite Lennon song, I've always liked "Please Please Me." The first please is so innocent and polite, and the second so dirty, that its really quite a clever little song. When I look at those old tapes of the Beatles perfoming it live, with John singing and Paul and George sharing a single microphone off to one side and nodding their heads in unison, I can't help but think "wow, this audience had no idea what changes the next five years had in store."

Richard: John Lennon's own quote about "And Your Bird Can Sing": "Another horror." Also: "Another one of my throwaways."

A lot of people are mentioning "Yer Blues," which didn't jump out at me when I went through the book "Beatlesongs" to quickly pick out the John songs. I guess people like the very raw emotional stuff. I cam close to including "I Want You," but scratched it off at the last minute.

de rigeur to celebrate someone's murder? Jesus Christ, The Ides of March and Julius Caesar, Thomas Beckett, JFK, MLK RFK... we celebrate "murders" every year -- it is in the final analysis of ocurse -- a date oif death whether it's too soon like Lennon or natural causes at 102 surrounded by family.

My estimation of this group has been lifted by the absence of "Imagine" from the lists.

I would have to go with Happiness is a Warm Gun and I love "Julia" from the Beatles. Instant Karma! is great too and the Double Fantasy stuff is great.

I was a rebel in high school who had to do his Senior paper on a topic from Britian. I knew nothing about the Beatles, or had I heard much of their music, but I remember Lennon was suppose to be a rebel. I chose to do the paper on Lennon and researched his life. It was obviously amazing.

After I wrote the paper I went out to buy an album to see what this hippy had done. I bought the blue album. I had never heard the later Beatles tunes. I fell in love and they became my favorite band of all time. I was obsessed. I knew the biography of the band before I knew the music.

My favorite Lennon song, therefore, is "Julia."

Second would have to be his rendition of "You Can't Cath Me" on the Rock and Roll solo album.